wiper de icer elements

[dunhill1984]

The windscreen heated wiper elements how do they come on? are they on all the time or is it that button on aircon which directs air to windscreen and whats the point if the rest of screen is covered in ice surely it would have better to install a whole heated window!

[rmvf]

New to me but interested all the same ill go through the handbook

[Clarice]

Think you will find there are thin gold style elements in the lower darkened area of the windscreen which are on the same level as the wipers when parked, this makes sense as the area is well below where the interior heater is set to blow onto the windscreen and therefore does not unfreeze the wipers, which, I am sure in the past plenty of us have operated the wiper switch when it's frosty to see either the fuse blow or the wiper rubber detach from the arm leaving that nice little scratch arc in the glass as a reminder not to do it twice.

Heated front screens 'A La F**d'...hate 'em with a vengeance, I was on a high speed driving course in Autumn many years back when we came across foggy weather, once my eyes settled on the thin elements in the screen I could not focus past 'em and had to stop to let another chap take over.

[dunhill1984]

thanks for the rant clarise,you did not answer my question ie whats switches the heater element on?
also i think you find that for a price premium some car makers offer a wire free heated windscreen now(VW for example) i had the olsd sort on my skoda yeti l&k and didnt notice them after the first few days.but it was great in the winter i am sure i will miss it now.......heated steering wheel worked this morning very fast start up.

[Clarice]

Me ? Rant ? I would call it constructive criticism, however having had a look through the Manual, apart from all the beeps warning you of this that and the other including the end of the earth I could find nothing to indicate exactly what does switch the elements on so using a bit of intuition I would say there are multiple ways in which they may activate:-

Heated rear screen switch- if this is on then odds are that the temperature is low enough to warrant it.

Interior heater switch is set to on then odds are it's either steamy or frosty enough to require it

Sensors for outside ambient temperature are preset so that at a certain temperature it activates

Heated seats are activated because if it's cold enough for your bum then the screen will warrant clearing as well.

They are always on !

Cameras in the screen pod are indicating  they are obscured so activate the elements.

All of the above and some we just don't know about

You know Mazda, if there's a way of making it complicated or as some will say looking for all eventualities for perfection

Question answered ? or have I confused the situation with my rant  ( Oops, sorry constructive critique )

[Gus]

4-81 of my manual says that the front window element comes on with the rear window element switch.

[Clarice]

I missed that, must get new glasses for reading, used the wiper de-icer this morning ( +2 degrees )  with totally frosted up screen and have to say it does work really well as when checked the wiper area was cleared of frost whilst the rest of the screen was still 'Mr Frosty'

Ahem, having checked the manual it was for our other CX-5 which didn't have this feature. Memo to self -read the right booklet

Dunhill I can testify it works well and where you live it'll be a lot colder than my gaff.

[dunhill1984]

thanks for the info gus/clarice sorted!
except now how do the wing mirror demisters come on?

[Clarice]

When you hit the windscreen de-icer switch the mirrors automatically demist as well.

[steve101]

thanks for the info gus/clarice sorted!
except now how do the wing mirror demisters come on?

4-80 and 4-81  Outside mirror de-icers and wiper de-icers come on when you switch on the rear screen de-icer/de-fogger.

[NEP68]

Does the CX-5 actually have mirror de-icers.  It'd be a nice to have but can't say that they've been quick to clear if they do have them.

[dunhill1984]

that rear window heaterswitch certainly does a lot!
what happens if your rear window is clear but front and wing mirrors are iced up be silly to put rear on

[Jonno21]

Dunhill
You're overthinking it a little bit. All non VW group cars I've had demist the side mirrors by pressing the rear window defroster button. Unless it's changed from 2012 when I had a Skoda Octavia, there is  a way of switching on the side mirror defroster using the mirror switch seperately from the rear window demister. (Can't remember how though). The only issue was that you could inadvertantly leave the side mirrors in the defrost position all the time.
I'd rather have one switch for all defrosting.

[dunhill1984]

Thans jonno you are right it is better with one switch because on skoda/vw you turned the miiror knob to de icing position.